3/21/10 (The Chronicle of Philanthropy) - At 14,000 feet above sea level, breathing becomes labored, the heart beats harder and faster, and nausea may roll through the stomach. For doctors Ray L. Benza and Robert P. Frantz, both cardiologists, these symptoms are hardly unfamiliar. They confront them daily treating patients who suffer from a type of high blood pressure that affects the lungs, making it hard to breathe and often causing death. Read article

Kilimanjaro Climber to Give Talk

3/22/2010

(The Post-Bulletin) Rochester, Minn. - Dr. Robert Frantz is scheduled to speak about pulmonary hypertension and his climb to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, at 1 p.m. on April 17 in the Sun room (GR 37F) at Assisi Heights, in Rochester. Read Article

PA's Kilimanjaro Climb Raises Awareness, $110K

3/12/2010

(ADVANCE for Physician Assistants) - Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, at more than 19,300 feet, is so difficult that only 40% of climbers attempting to summit the mountain make it, says Jessica Lazar, MPA, PA-C. The primary reason? Altitude sickness. Lazar would know. Not only has she has specialized in treating patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) for a decade, but also on Feb. 26 she summited Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak. Read article

Mayo Doctor Climbing Kilimanjaro – 02/26/10

3/1/2010

(KAAL-TV.com) Austin, MN - Today is day 8 for a Mayo doctor and two others. Early this morning, they began their ascent to the summit of Mount Kilamanjaro. Read article

Brighter Side -- the Brighter Side of the Daily News - Kilimanjaro Summit

3/1/2010

(The Post-Bulletin) Rochester, Minn. - Dr. Robert Frantz reached the 19,300-foot summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania after a moonlight climb and got to watch the sun rise over Africa. Read article

(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) - As he approached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Dr. Raymond Benza became profoundly short of breath. And that's exactly what he wanted. "Our heart rates became faster and oxygen levels became lower," Benza, 46, said Friday morning, 12 hours after reaching the peak of Africa's highest mountain. Read article

Mayo Clinic Doctor Reaches Top of Mt. Kilimanjaro

3/1/2010

(The Post-Bulletin) Rochester, Minn. - Dr. Robert Frantz reached the 19,300-foot summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania after a moonlight climb and got to watch the sun rise over Africa. Read Article

Mayo Clinic's Dr. Robert Frantz at 15,000 Feet...

2/25/2010

(The Post-Bulletin) Rochester, Minn. - Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Robert Frantz checked in from a six-hour, rugged hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa today on an "almost like a moonscape, big boulders around, mist swirling around." He and other medical specialists are climbing with a team in part to experience the symptoms of his patients who live with pulmonary hypertension. Oxygen saturation levels of the climbers have hovered around 82 percent. Read article

Mayo Doctor Describes Life at 15,000 Feet on Kilimanjaro

2/25/2010

(The Post-Bulletin) Rochester, Minn. - The moonscape environment Wednesday brought amazing beauty to the climbing team high on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Robert Frantz said the team hiked up and down to various elevations, ending at about 15,000 feet. Read article

Doctor Readies for Kilimanjaro Climb

2/23/2010

(The Post-Bulletin) Rochester, Minn. - Mayo Clinic heart specialist Dr. Robert Frantz has arrived at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Arusha, Tanzania, Africa. His team expected to begin climbing from 4,000 feet early today and camp tonight at about 10,000 feet. They expect to summit next Friday at 19,340 feet. Read article

(Fox Business) - The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) announced today that three pulmonary hypertension (PH) specialists began their eight-day "Path to a Cure" journey to the 19,341-foot summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise global awareness of PH, a disease that affects the heart and lungs. Raymond Benza, MD, Robert Frantz, MD, and Jessica Lazar, MPA, PA-C, are climbing Africa's highest peak in an effort to bring attention to this rare and serious disease and to raise funds for PH research and other programs benefiting the PH community. Read article

PA Leaving for Mount Kilimanjaro Climb Today

2/18/2010

(ADVANCE Blog for PAs) - Pennsylvania PA Jessica Lazar is getting on a plane today to fly to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Lazar, who works at the Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, her supervising physician and another doctor are making the nine-day trek to raise money and awareness for pulmonary hypertension. Read article

Clinicians Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to Raise PH Awareness

2/17/2010

(PA Pro NOW) - It's safe to assume that the panoramic view from the majestic summit of Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro is a sight that both figuratively and literally takes your breath away. At more than 19,000 feet above sea level, it's one of the world's most formidable peaks.

Jessica Lazar, MPA, PA-C, director of Quality, Research and Education at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa., and two other health care professionals are going to climb the mountain on Feb. 19 as part of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association's Path to a Cure campaign. The effort is aimed at raising awareness of the disease and $100,000 to PH research as well as related patient, family and community programs around the country. Read article

(The Post-Bulletin) Rochester, Minn. - Dr. Robert Frantz has been training to climb of the tallest mountain in Africa — Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro at a summit of a little over 19,300 feet — and now it's time to go. Frantz leaves for Tanzania on Wednesday, starts climbing on Friday and expects to summit on Feb. 26. Read article

(The Lebanon Daily News) Pittsburgh, Penn. - Ray Benza, a physician at Allegheny General Hospital, and Jessica Lazar, a physician assistant who works with him on the hospital's cardiovascular clinical care team, plan to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania next month to raise funds for research into pulmonary hypertension, and to experience briefly what their patients suffer every day. Read article

Doctor and Physician Assistant Hit Stairs for Mountain Climb

1/20/2010

(The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) - Dr. Ray Benza, a physician at Allegheny General Hospital, and Jessica Lazar, a physician assistant who works with him on the hospital's cardiovascular clinical care team, plan to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania next month to raise funds for research into pulmonary hypertension, and to experience briefly what their patients suffer every day. Read article

Path To A Cure: AGH Clinicians To Scale Mt. Kilimanjaro In Quest to Raise Global Awareness of Deadly Lung Disease

1/11/2010

(HealthCanal) - It is safe to assume that the view of Africa from the majestic summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro is a sight that both figuratively and literally takes one’s breath away. At more than 19,000 feet above sea level, Kilimanjaro is one of the world’s most formidable peaks, the scaling of which requires a supreme level of physical endurance and cardiovascular health. Read article

PA Climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro for a Cause

1/8/2010

(ADVANCE Blog for Physician Assistants) - Jessica Lazar, a physician assistant at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, is preparing to scale great heights to raise awareness of pulmonary hypertension, a disease that affects the heart and lungs of approximately 100,000 Americans. Read article

Climbing Kilimanjaro to Serve Allegheny General Doctor's Patients

1/8/2010

(The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) Pittsburgh, PA - Dangling from the rope attached to his safety harness, nearly halfway up the face of a 500-foot cliff, Dr. Raymond Benza stared at the ground, half-dazed from bouncing off the rocks. He could think only about his wife and son at home. Read article

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